17 year old Thomas Kelly of West Corwick is being forced to sell his car within a week of passing his test due to the lack of cheap car insurance.
After Thomas left Trinity Academy last summer, he began an apprenticeship with Fishlake Commercial Motors and couldn’t wait to drive to work. But is dream was shattered when he discovered that the cheapest quote to drive his Citroen Saxo was £3,500 per year.
Thomas said, “It nearly killed me when I realized how much the insurance was going to cost. It would be almost my entire wages for the year. I’m going to have to sell the car. For now, I’ll have to rely on work colleagues and lifts from my mum and stepdad.”
He has to travel to Bristol for two week training stints five times a year and the cost of train fare is nearly £400.
His 42 year old mother, Amanda, contacted all major insurance companies and could not believe it when she was told that he will have to pay more because he was a mechanic. She said, “It costs mechanics more than other professions. Yet when you get insurance you have to tell them if the car’s been modified so surely being a mechanic shouldn’t hinder, in fact it should actually be more beneficial. Insurance companies appear to want to just out-right stonewall the youth of today and it must surely have an effect in the future, not only for them but for business and the economy of the future too.”
Amanda is so aggravated about the problem that she has written to Goole MP, Andrew Percy asking him to highlight the cause of cash strapped teenagers who are just trying to “get on in life”. Mr. Percy said, “It seems bonkers that someone who knows a vehicle inside out and takes a pride in what they’re driving gets penalized.”
